Roland Dransfield Blog

By now all major retailers in the UK have launched their Christmas campaigns, however, this year it seems more are ploughing their budget into online activity in an effort to mirror their audience's shopping habits.

While some argue that the kick-off for Christmas advertising gets earlier every year, things typically get underway just after Bonfire Night. It's a magical time of year, when retailers and virtually every other type of business commence their seasonal advertising campaigns to encourage shoppers to get in the mood for the celebrations and shell out some festive funds on their goods and services.

In this article, we'll look at examples of the UK’s bigger retailers Christmas campaigns and the results they have achieved with these so far. We'll also investigate why we think retailers might be looking at shifting their mindset to offer advertising campaigns for TV and online.

In a world where we are inundated by choice, and are bombarded by marketing messages on a daily basis that try to persuade us to 'buy, buy, buy!' it is no surprise that many of us have learned to turn a deaf ear to the propagators of these messages.

With consumers becoming more and more desensitised to the effects of marketing and PR, we investigate how companies should approach the issue of convincing people to choose their brands?

Despite the growing range of cheap digital marketing tools, small businesses are still at something of a disadvantage when it comes to promoting themselves and enhancing their visibility.

Many companies in this category lack a high-profile in terms of physical presence and won't typically have a huge amount to spend on paid methods such as advertising. While search and social media have certainly levelled the playing field to an extent, they're still highly resource-intensive tasks that demand both time and technical skill.

Given this situation, could it be worth it for SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) to branch out into PR? In this guide, we'll delve into the issue and provide some actionable advice on whether PR is right for your fledgling firm.

The rise of the digital age and emergence of property marketing websites such as Rightmove and Zoopla has resulted in a drastic change in the way that people view potential properties.

In this article, we'll offer a brief overview of how the shift online has changed the way the UK property market works and provide some top tips on taking advantage of new and emerging marketing avenues.

QR codes were once the next big thing in combining off and online marketing, but with many industry luminaries sounding their death knell, it seems this relatively new technology could already be on the ropes. In this article, we'll try and get to the bottom of QR code usage and find out whether they're something that's still worth investing in.

If you live or work in Manchester, there's a good chance you have at least a passing familiarity with the city's infamous Metrolink tram system.

Despite the reams of Twitter abuse and queries being hurled its way over its poor operation, Transport for Greater Manchester (TFGM), the authority that oversees the service, seemed somewhat reluctant to engage with its stakeholders via the medium.

In this post, we'll investigate how one irate customer's open letter and the accompanying outpouring of support changed all that.

Blogs and social media posts that include images tend to perform better than those without, but sourcing and embedding imagery can quickly turn into a time sink.

To save you time, we've put together a guide that'll take you through the role that images play in content marketing, provide tips on where and when to use visuals and how to stay on the right side of copyright laws when using other people's pictures.

During the last few months of completing my PR and Media degree, with my student days coming to an end, I was anxious to step into the working world and begin my prestigious PR career.

Little did I know, my lack of experience and the fact that I had and no placement year meant my chances of getting a job straight away like I thought were zero! Despite turning up to numerous primary and secondary interviews - a year after graduating I was still jobless.

That's when I put the applications on hold and began applying for work experience - eventually securing a placement at Roland Dransfield. It's been a great few weeks working at this prestigious Manchester PR Agency and I've learned loads. I've been asked to share my experiences, so in this post I'll take you through the difference between PR theory and practice and hopefully give my fellow graduates a taste of what's in store for them.

Your marketing team has drawn together an excellent advertising proposal for 2014. High monthly unique users? Tick. Demonstrable ROI? Tick. Exposure to your target audience? Of course. What about considering the potential for the outlet to become embroiled in negative PR? Probably not.

Earlier this month, Ask.fm was thrust into the spotlight for its alleged lax moderation of cyber bullying, leading to David Cameron to call upon teenagers to boycott the ‘hateful’ and ‘sinful’ site. Obviously this is bad news for a site that generates its revenue through online advertising, so what lessons can this situation teach us about the PR risks of digital promotion?